Happy First Birthday Alyssa!

Why do the 9 months of pregnancy drag and seem to never end,

but after the baby is born

the first year of life is over in a snap?!

Our baby girl is 1 year today. She has started walking. She took her first steps at our family reunion. She still is working on her balance, but can get about halfway across the room before she falls and then crawls to her destination. She can fold her arms and "say" prayers. She likes to wave "hi" and "bye." She loves to play peek-a-boo with the kids. Our entire family thinks she is a doll. We love you Alyssa!





Here is a video of Alyssa eating her birthday cake. She was rather neat with her eating. Sorry to disappoint all those that like messy 1st birthday cake pictures. Mike tried to get her to eat it on her own, but she just waited for him to feed her. She was very cute and smiley.

You can hear Kirsten singing in the background. Kirsten is almost always singing. I hope she continues to sing as she gets older. I love it!

Family Reunion

We spent last week at my parents' house for a family reunion. Everyone was there except Roger and Sheldon, but they had good excuses for not being in attendance.



Darrell and Stacie provided the food on Wednesday. The kids had fun playing in the water in the backyard. We had a Doctor Who night at Daniel and Amy's. The younger kids had a lot of fun playing with Lizzy in the backyard. Lizzy showed them her secret hideout, which was really cool for all the kids.

We spent time helping Mom and Dad fix stuff on their house and sorting through things in their house. Of course we ate lots of great food, had awesome company, and played and played. We were able to go to the beach one day. Thanks Deb and Matt for the great food, beach toys and fun!


On the official reunion day Sam made spaghetti, garlic bread, and peas for breakfast. He started everyone off with a cup of ice cream. Nothing like dessert first thing in the morning. Then for lunch he made breakfast--cheesy eggs, bacon, oatmeal, biscuits and gravy. Yum. Then we had lunch for supper--sandwiches, chips, juice, carrots and fruit snacks. After the family meeting the kids played outside for a long time. We brought along a parachute for them to play with. Then I had them run some races around Grandpa's garden. I attempted to teach them to blow bubbles with gum, but I wasn't very successful. It was fun though. In the evening we went to the concert and watched fireworks at the park.



Deb and Ruth's baby boys were also blessed. We got some sweet baby pictures.



Enjoy your week!

Happy Birthday America!

We were able to celebrate Independence Day a day early with our extended family. It was awesome! We had a family reunion all day long and ended the evening with a picnic and live music at the park. The state orchestra was there to perform a patriotic concert. It was a good mix of old and newer patriotic songs. We got to stand for the "Star Spangled Banner", and place our hands over our hearts to salute our flag. We sang along with "God Bless America." The music helped us think about our God, our country's past, about our military and the freedoms we enjoy today. As the orchestra ended with a famous Sousa march, the fireworks began.

Watch Out Harry!

Ethan came to me and asked if I would take his picture. He said he thought he looked like a wizard. I told him "just a minute," and excused myself to the bathroom. I then discovered a slinky in the toilet. Coincidence? Yes. Ethan isn't the type to put slinkies in the toilet, but it could be magic. How many of you have discovered a colorful, tangled up slinky in your toilet? Watch out Potter. Make way for wizard Ethan. I think he is getting ready for his O.W.L.s and he hasn't even started kindergarten yet.
That's what I get for keeping a wizard waiting. What will be next? A lizard in the laundry room? At my house, anything is possible. . .

A Few Pics

Years ago, I helped Jon and Rebecca make pictures of things they liked to do each day. These pictures are in their journals. Ethan recently saw Rebecca's picture in her journal and wanted me to help him draw a similar picture. I told him he had to draw it, but I helped him label it. I thought he did an awesome job!Earlier this week the kids were being silly with their towels, after they got ready for some water fun. I think they were pretending they had really long hair. I remember doing the same thing with my beach towel when I was a kid.

I love pictures of all my kids together, having a good time.

I found three kitty cats in the kitchen. They helped themselves to bowls of milk and plates of cat food (chinese noodles). Next time it would be nice if they asked ahead of time.


We hope you have a great weekend!